DACC nursing program changed yet similar two years after accreditation loss

Former DACC nursing students Angela Cavender, left, and Amy Avalos meet at Almanzar & Youngers law office Wednesday to talk about the lawsuit they filed against New Mexico State University after Doña Ana Community College's nursing program lost national accreditation in 2012. (Robin Zielinski — Sun-News)

LAS CRUCES &GT;&GT; Many of the students are still trudging along, working to finish their degrees. A new president oversees the college and new faculty have been hired, but the same program director remains. There is a renewed effort to regain national accreditation, but the certification is still at least a year away.

It's been two years since Doña Ana Community College's nursing program lost national accreditation, and everything is different, yet everything is the same.

Same: No accreditation

The nursing program still does not have national accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing. Accreditation is required for graduates to obtain most hospital jobs, though it is not required for a school to run a nursing program.

DACC officials had initially said they hoped to regain accreditation by this spring, but the school has only just now applied for a site visit, when accreditation representatives visit the campus to meet with students and faculty and evaluate the program.

Nursing program Director Tracy Lopez and new President Renay Scott submitted the site visit application July 7, asking for accreditation officials to visit in February if possible. The accreditation representatives will visit the school and meet with students, faculty and other stakeholders over three days.

Advertisement

DACC officials will submit a self-evaluation of the nursing program before the visit, evaluating how well they think the program meets ACEN requirements.

After the visit, DACC will likely hear back on its accreditation status late next summer, Scott has said.

Different: The students

About 100 DACC nursing students learned days before they started school in August 2012 that their program had lost accreditation.

They had less than a month to decide whether to continue in the non-accredited program or transfer elsewhere. The close-knit cohorts split as they decided what was best for their families and careers.

Seventy-three students transferred to New Mexico State University, accepting an offer to pay tuition while they earned their bachelor's degree in nursing. Thirty-four students have since graduated, NMSU spokeswoman Minerva Baumann said. Two students withdrew for personal reasons, she said.

For 37 students, however, much is unchanged. They are still working to finish their degrees from NMSU, long after they would have graduated from DACC.

A handful of students remained at DACC, though a spokesman did not know how many had since graduated.

The nursing program currently has 53 students, according to the site visit application, far below the 2012 enrollment.

Renay Scott was named DACC president this summer and began her tenure in June.

DACC has also hired additional nursing faculty to meet accreditation requirements. There are now six full-time faculty, all of whom have master's degrees, and five part-time faculty, more than half of whom have master's degrees, Scott said.

Faculty credentials were a key impediment to renewed accreditation.

The full-time faculty members are working with nursing program director Tracy Lopez on the self-evaluation, Scott said.

"(They) have begun to be a cohesive unit," she said. "They've worked hard to address the concerns attributed to the loss of accreditation."

One aspect that has not changed is the nursing program director. Lopez was the director when the program lost accreditation and retains her position.

Different: Coordination

The loss of accreditation revealed the discrepancies in accreditation processes between NMSU branch campuses. NMSU-Alamogordo has shut down its nursing program, while NMSU-Carlsbad's program received a nine-year accreditation in 2011.

To better align the system's nursing programs, NMSU created a Nursing Council. The council coordinates curriculum reviews and monitors and helps branch campuses with the accreditation process.

The council has met 17 times since its creation in February 2013, NMSU officials said.

Same: Frustration

Two years later, multiple former DACC nursing students still expressed frustration with college administrators, the loss of accreditation and their delayed entry into the workforce.